Rotary Tables

I've got the Vertex 8" four slot and the 6" three slot. They're bot

very nice pieces of kit

-- DX-SF

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I have a Vertex RT and have found it to be very good. Mine came properly set up but I have heard people complain of back-lash in the worm gear but this is adjustable (if you can get to grips with the 'Chinglish' manual). My only gripe with the 6" version is that in horizontal mode the handle doesn't quite clear the table (I assume it is designed to hang over the edge of the mill table), obviously mounting the thing with a couple of parallels under it fixes the problem, it only needs a few thou so shims would do quite well too.

I suppose the other issue is that it is tricky to mount a conventional lathe chuck on it. You can buy a 2 MT adapter with a Myford spindle sized chuck fitting for them which is possibly useful but I would have thought you would have to be sure to rotate it in the right direction to avoid the chuck coming unscrewed in some situations - maybe someone has tried one and can advise. I made up a plate with a spigot on which to mount the chuck with a table sized recess in the back to aid in self centering the chuck. I'm sure that this is not a problem specific to these RT's, it is probably the case on any RT where the table size is only an inch or so larger than the chuck to be mounted.

I had to make up a centre drilled 2MT blank to aid in centering the table under the spindle which is a very minor thing but I would have thought it was something everyone needs to do and possibly should ideally be supplied with the table.

Overall, the Vertex is a nicely designed and made piece of kit and although I have not tried the Sorba equivalent my milling vice made by them is superb, beautifully made, robust and accurate, possibly more so than my bigger Vertex K type so I'm sure their RT's are similarly good.

I hope it helps

Mark

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Hi,

There was a thread about this very same topic quite recently, a look on groups.google.com might find it.

Wfiw, I have a Soba 6" rt and I've found it to be very good. Mine does not have the problem with the handwheel sitting below the base and I bought the chuck-mounting adaptor (Boxford flavour) which works very well and extends the scope of the device emmensely.

Hth,

Mike

A gnother gnu! :)

Shoba, not Soba are Indian, Vertex are Taiwanese. Normally Taiwanese are better than Indian but recently Vertex have started cheapening their tables with plain bearings on the worm shafts. Shoba has also started moving a bit up market and fitting bearings. It's a bit of a throw up though as you have no idea if you are buying MKl or MKll

I have a bearing model Vertex, a plain Vertex and a small 4" tilting Shoba from Chronos and I have been pleased with the fit and finish of all of them. Proops had some Shoba's on their stand at the last show and they were absolute rubbish.

Try and get to see what you are getting if possible. Shoba is like Draper, it's an envelope name taking in various suppliers.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

Another name to add to the mix is Homge - their 6" table is dimensionally similar to the Vertex but they have retained proper bearings on the worm shaft and base of the table spindle, like the Vertex tables used to be. IMHO, a cut above the plain bearing Vertec tables.

Regards, Tony

Ah!! When I wrote about my machine vice being excellent and akin to Vertex in quality terms (without the crappy crinkly paint finish!), I had made the assumption that your SOBA should have read SORBA. If, as John says you were referring to SHOBA then I suspect that this may be an entirely different kettle of wet slippery things! So:

Sorba = V. Good Vertex = Good with crappy paint Shorba = ? (but probably suspect) Soba = ? (never heard of them)

As clear as mud? I thought so.

Mark

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Is Shoba a name change? I have a couple of cheap Soba items, One of which is a set of V blocks. I haven't run them past a comparator but they look close enough for cheap work. I had assumed that they were Indian.

I picked up a Vertex catalogue from somewhere and it has quite a few toys in it. The wonderful thing is that there are no prices and I don't know anyone who stocks the whole range, so it is quite safe to browse through it.

Mark Rand RTFM

Strange, my 6in rotary table (from Chronos) is definately branded Soba and does indeed come from India.

I don't have any other brands to compare it to but, other than the (easily fixed) problem of the table height being insufficient for a workpiece mouinted thereon to clear the mounting base, it seems to do what it says on the tin.

Russell.

Something not appreciated very much is that the stuff coming fro

China/Taiwan is of an increasingly high order. This is because o outside investment in the Tiger economy countries and the latest up t date production machinery is being installed in the factories. Fo example, Myford used to supply their old VMC mill and this was a nic piece of kit if a little overpriced. However, exactly the same mode can currently be had brand new from a number of UK importers built t the same standards in the same factories for roughly half the *secon hand* price of an old Myford one

-- DX-SF

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